Monitoring of traffic conditions in and around cities is a task that often is performed by helicopters hovering above the road systems, and wherein a radio reporter in the helicopter broadcasts directly on a special radio channel to everyone that is listening to the channel, for example when driving in their car. In this manner it is possible to provide communication of updated traffic conditions from one source to a plurality of road users simultaneously. The road users can take this information into account when they are driving. It is also possible to update Internet pages with the same kind of information online by operators that is also listening for example to the radio reporter, and which also can make calls to public traffic control centres, the police, private car organizations, or any other type of institution that can provide relevant traffic information and/or additional information, and incorporate this information for example on published Internet pages. Such Internet pages can be read via mobile terminals over a wireless network.
Mobile GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation terminals for use in cars may also be equipped with traffic information systems. These systems are usually based on a server system collecting information about the traffic situation, for example from public traffic surveillance organisations, the police, road maintenance companies etc. Special traffic situations like an accident can be recorded by road users reporting the situation to operators of the server system, and when another road user using the specific GPS navigation tool is identified as being in the proximity of the road accident, the server system will provide information to specific road users in the area via the GPS navigation terminal located in the car of the road users. For example, the navigation map may be updated by the server with symbols representing an accident, or a blocking of the road because of road work or similar symbols representing other reasons for the traffic problem etc.
The European patent application EP 2053356 A1 discloses a navigation system capable of outputting situation information of a specified area according to real-time traffic information including traffic regulation. A navigation apparatus (200) can make a user recognize the moment when a vehicle (Q) enters a specified area (A) where a situation which affects the travel of the vehicle (Q) along a navigation route (r) is generated and the situation (inf(A)) indicating the situation by using an icon (x) indicating an entry position (pin) and having a design decided according to the situation information (inf(A)). The navigation apparatus (200) can provide advice to the user to perform an appropriate countermeasure in accordance with the situation such as re-search of the navigation route (r) or detour from the navigation route (r).
The European patent EP 1938296 B1 discloses techniques for assessing traffic conditions in various ways based on obtained traffic-related data, such as data samples from vehicles and other mobile data sources traveling on the roads, as well as in some situations data from one or more other sources (such as physical sensors near to or embedded in the roads). The assessment of traffic conditions based on obtained data samples may include various filtering and/or conditioning of the data samples, and various inferences and probabilistic determinations of traffic-related characteristics of interest from the data samples. In some situations, the inferences include repeatedly determining traffic flow characteristics for road segments of interest during time periods of interest, such as to determine average traffic speed, traffic volume and/or occupancy, and include weighting various data samples in various ways (e.g., based on a latency of the data samples and/or a source of the data samples).
The U.S. Pat. No. 8,284,748 B2 by Hooman Borghei discloses a method and system for formation and tracking of a location-sharing group. The location-sharing group can be performed ad hoc without the assistance of a central server. A geofence can be defined that encloses the current locations of the participating devices in the location-sharing group. The geographic location of the location-sharing group as a whole can be tracked and provided to the participating devices in the location-sharing group. Group-level location-sharing can be enabled. Departure of a participating device from the location-sharing group can be detected based on the current location and the coverage radius of each device in the location-sharing group. Entry of points of interest into the geofence of the location-sharing group can be detected and notified to the participating devices in the location-sharing group.
The European patent application EP 20070039 A1 (WO2008034264A1) disclose a commuter groups service (CGS) that allows commuters to join commuter groups so that they are able to socialize while commuting. Through the commuter groups, the users may share commuting routes, traffic updates, road conditions, and other information. Group members may arrange car pools, short term riding arrangements, and may anonymously or directly contact each other. The CGS may collect group member position information, e.g. GPS information, to enable the CGS to calculate traffic conditions and to select location specific information for group member users. The system may include an on-line service accessible through a computer or wireless networking device. The user may log into the CGS, create or modify a user profile, and join groups of their choosing. Groups may be associated with specific events or with getting to/from work. Commuter groups may be formed for commuters that use private vehicles and/or public transportation.
US 2009231432 by Grigsy Travis et. al discloses a vehicle to vehicle network configured to submit video streams from video cameras in the respective vehicles to the other participants over the network. According to the teaching the system identifies which video stream most participants are watching, and then this video stream is submitted to all participants.
Despite the fact that there is a plurality of respective prior art solutions with respect to traffic surveillance and guidance systems there are still some aspects of road conditions and road user behaviour that would be beneficial to incorporate into a traffic surveillance and guidance system.
It is evident that systems as described above rely heavily on the data quality of the data being collected. Accurate road or traffic information that is up to date is the key to a successful use of such systems. Even though it is known from for example EP 1938296 B1 that there might be sensors embedded in the roads collecting traffic information, it is not common to have such sensors everywhere. The system is also dependent on that people do report situations, and that there are systems and operators available that can convert such information into traffic server based information, for example tagging information with GPS coordinates and format the information into a correct computer readable format, and for example update navigation maps in cars with symbols representing respective types of incidents.
It is also common that traffic surveillance is limited to the main roads which carry the main load of the traffic. Side roads etc. may also have traffic problems and are usually discovered by a road user being the first person to encounter a situation, for example an accident, a blocked road due to a house on fire etc.
These situations can be reported by the driver, for example via a mobile phone call to a central traffic surveillance centre, but usually it takes some time and effort to report such events. Therefore, there is usually a threshold in behaviour for doing traffic updates by road users and/or operators updating for example a database. Operators of databases will make a priority of the main roads, and delay operations related to side roads. If an accident happens drivers are occupied with their own safety and avoiding being trapped in a situation before they might think of calling and reporting a situation to a traffic surveillance system operator.
It is also a known problem that not only one driver reports for example a road accident. If several road users makes mobile phone calls to a central traffic surveillance centre, several operators will deal with the same situation and other important events may be blocked from being reported since a caller may not get through to an operator within a reasonable timespan, and the caller aborts the call.
The benefits of having a central located institution or server system or similar arrangement receiving traffic information from a plurality of sources, and which can make analysis of traffic situations, and can report situations and advices to road users are obvious. However, the information usually covers a whole region like a city and is usually meant to provide a general assessment of the flow of the traffic in the city, which part of the city has good road conditions and which part of the city where there might be queue problems etc. In between news of general road conditions news flash of accidents, fires, and similar incidents that may influence road conditions in specific areas may be reported to everyone. Instant information and an advice to a road user of an incident that happens in the neighbourhood of his present position on a road may not reach him in time. It is a known fact that the ability to avoid being trapped on the road due to an accident is a matter of time. If the information or warning or an advice for an alternative route comes too late the road user will probably be trapped. Then the warning and advice bear no significance to the road user, and can instead sometimes be experienced in a negative manner.
Another typical feature of prior art traffic surveillance systems is that road users have to find the information that is relevant for their current position. Even those prior art systems that can provide a direct message, or is providing an update of navigation maps with respective symbols as mentioned above, requires an intervention by a road user. For example, a text message about an incident sent by a server system to a navigation terminal requires that the road users receiving the message makes an assessment that the message actually do have impact on their own traffic situation. There will be a geographical limit to the relevance of a specific message, and also the road users intended and continued travel after the specific message was received has impact on the relevance of the message. For example, if the road user has in mind to turn off the road he is travelling on, or is parking his car at a road café the message may not have relevance for him anymore. When resting at the road café it would also seem unnecessary to continue to inform the road user about the traffic situation since he is not moving in the traffic. It only happens that he is at a geographical location that is identified as relevant for road users as such in the area with respect to certain traffic conditions. If the road user is a road user of a commuter type of service, other road users of the commuter group would probably continue to travel ahead away from his position at the road café. Then he cannot provide any relevant information to the other road users of the commuter group and the other road users would probably be so far away that they do not have any relevant information for him either. It is when he again starts to travel that he would need information from other road users that are in a reasonable distance from him. That would require a new membership in another commuter group located in his area of travel.
Updates of navigation maps with symbols do have some of the same issues with respect to relevance for a road user. One problem is related to zooming of maps. If the road user has zoomed into an area to be able to spot details of a road system the updated symbols may be located outside the zoomed area. If the update is accompanied with a text message that an update has occurred the road user needs to zoom out before spotting one of maybe several symbols. Then there is a task for the road user to evaluate which symbol and what kind of impact the type of traffic incident that has been reported via the present symbols on the navigation map has for his continued travel, for example which symbol is the latest updated symbol.
The navigation system will probably know the intended destination for the travel since this is the normal purpose of using a navigation terminal in the first place. However, the system knows only the intended destination and a proposed route to follow to reach the intended destination. The system does not know the behaviour of the road user. It is known that a navigation system identifies a situation when a road user departs from a proposed route. However, this can be the intention of the road user, for example he can depart the proposed route to visit a friend or family, or he remember a good restaurant at lunch time located in a village some distance away from the road he is travelling on etc. Therefore it is a challenge for a traffic surveillance system and guidance system to account for planned or unplanned changing user behaviour.
It is a beneficial feature of a traffic surveillance and guidance system to be able to filter information that is sent to specific road users. First of all to make sure that the information is relevant. Secondly, it is important to reduce the flow of information, i.e. remove information and advices of no significance to a specific road user. A road user driving a car is in a volatile situation where car accidents easily can happen if the driver loses his attention just for a second. Therefore, it is beneficial that a road user do not experience what is denoted as information overload.
A main challenges for road users driving a car for example, is to be able to view and assess road conditions in the vicinity of the current position of the car on the road, for example 500 meters ahead, or a kilometer ahead. However, houses along a road, hilltops, trees, huge trucks etc. may obscure the visibility and observation capacity the road user do have if the view around him was free of any obstacles. Usually it is of no interest to know road conditions the driver will encounter after driving an hour, or if the driver plans to exit the road he is driving on due to change of plans for example. As illustrated with the prior art examples above of a central located server system, the server may not be of help for an individual specific road user all the time. However, there are of course other types of information that can be of interest, for example information related to a selected destination for a trip. What is important is that the relevance of the information is also related to current behaviour of the road user. When the road user turns off a main road he should not need to receive information that apparently is outside the scope of his interest (i.e. the rest of the main road he was driving on). This kind of non-relevant information may distract a driver, and can in some instances provide the information overload condition referenced above (stress) where the driver no longer can react rationally on relevant information. If a road user is interested in traffic information in general, the road user can anyhow search for example a relevant Internet page before he starts to drive, or when being parked at the side of the road.
Even though another driver can report a situation not visible for other nearby road users to a central traffic surveillance system, the feedback to users from the central traffic surveillance system might take too long to be delivered quick enough for example due to other activity in the traffic surveillance system, due to priority of certain main roads for example, or because of an accident that happened 2 km ahead on a prioritized main road as mentioned above. In the meantime a road user that was blocked from viewing the nearby incident can arrive to the scene and might be trapped on the road for a long time. Then it is of no use if a central traffic surveillance system reports the incident after a while.
In prior art it is known that a server system may keep track of geographical positions of for example cars driving on roads. Therefore, it is possible that a server system can identify an upcoming queue problem on a specific road and can inform road users for example by sending out messages to cars associated with the respective tracked geographical positions. However, the association of a geographical position must then be with a mobile device registered to a specific user. In this manner the server system keeps track of identified persons all the time. In view of privacy and the general need of protecting people from unauthorized use of such registered data there is still a need for a different solution.
Therefore, there is a challenge with respect to traffic surveillance systems to be able to collect traffic relevant information quickly enough and then to be able to make the information available to road users that are in need of the information.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a traffic surveillance and guidance system may take into account observations made by respective road users and convey such information directly to other road users being located in a reasonable distance away from the road user that reports an incident, and vice versa. Therefore, within a certain geographically sized area road users should be able to provide relevant traffic information to each other directly. However, the challenge is to find who is within this certain geographical area and to know if they are willing to report information to other road users and still be able to maintain for example their privacy. They must also be willing to receive information. What then about road users being located close to the boundaries of the specific geographical area? Or is moving in or out of the specific geographical area? A road user being located just outside the boundaries of the geographical area may also need information that is deemed to be relevant for road users within the specific geographical area. In a broad sense the problem is related to locate random road users randomly located relative to each other within a random time spam to share for example their relevant fields of views and observation capability with each other and the traffic server during the random time span.
In addition to providing traffic information, guidance and specific advices to registered road users of a system according to the present invention, the inventor has also realised that modern roads and public transport infrastructures also comprises different services and tasks. Petrol stations or electric charging stations etc. are well known service providers. In addition restaurants and cafés are usually present along roads in addition to toll stations on toll roads etc. According to an aspect of the present invention, such services, functions and actions can be made accessible for road users by letting such providers etc. are registered as road users in an example of embodiment of the present invention. Non-limiting examples of services and/or functions etc. assigned to a union can be payment transactions, video distribution, time tables of public transport systems, information about delays of trains, air planes etc.
Therefore, there is a need of an improved traffic server system providing ease of reporting situations on roads and other transport means and systems, and which quickly can inform all relevant road users and other people moving in the traffic as quickly as possible about any incidents that have relevance for their present on-going journey. Further, any advice should be sent only to road users that are in need of the specific advices. However, it is necessary to distinguish between message content and actions, services, functions etc. which a server system should provide to a road user dependent on different needs of a specific road user. Therefore, differentiation of message content and advices and services and/or functions is a beneficial feature of a traffic surveillance and guidance system.
Hence, an improved traffic server system would be advantageous, and in particular a more efficient and/or reliable traffic server system would be advantageous.